'Evil' Acton mother guilty in baby's death

WOBURN -- The aunt of an Acton woman who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the death of her 13-month-old son says Christina Hancock should have been tried for murder.

"I don't feel there was justice in relation to the brutal nature of Kaydn's death and how much he suffered at the time of his death and before," Andrea Rizzitano, Christina Hancock's aunt, told The Sun hours after her niece's plea bargain was finalized in court.

Rizzitano said her niece should have been tried for second-degree murder. If convicted, Hancock would have been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Rizzitano said anyone who could physically harm or abuse a child is "evil.

In Middlesex Superior Court on Thursday, Hancock, 36, of Acton, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter from her original charge of first-degree murder in the May 12, 2010, beating death of 13-month-old Kaydn Hancock.

Judge Maureen Hogan agreed to a sentence of eight to 10 years in state prison, but Hancock gets credit for the three years she has been held since her 2010 arrest. She could be released in five years.

Hogan had postponed several earlier attempts to resolve the case with a plea because she wanted Hancock to take responsibility for Kaydn's death.

During a recent meeting with the judge, Hancock allegedly admitted she was angry that her son woke her up, so she punched him several times in the stomach, rupturing his spleen.

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When he screamed, Hancock allegedly continued to beat him until he stopped screaming.

Hancock initially told police Kaydn fell from his crib and hit his head. But doctors told prosecutors the boy's severe injuries were not consistent with a fall from a crib.

An autopsy showed Kaydn suffered massive internal bleeding, brain hemorrhaging and bruising on his stomach, liver and colon. The state medical examiner ruled Kaydn's death a homicide from blunt-force trauma.

Prosecutors allege there was also a prior incident in which the boy's arm was broken.

In arguing for manslaughter, defense attorney Stanley Norkunas told the judge that Hancock had a difficult upbringing with hospitalizations, suicidal thoughts and sexual assaults.

Rizzitano told The Sun she opposed the manslaughter plea because it "wasn't even close to reasonable justice for Kaydn."

Rizzitano said she saw Kaydn almost daily and loved him dearly. She said she also saw how Hancock mistreated the child.

"I tried desperately to save him," she said. "I am extremely resentful that the proper agencies wouldn't help when I asked for help."

Rizzitano said Kadyn was "the sunshine of my life... I cannot excuse what has happened to him."

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